Electronic mail (‘email’) and real time conversations (e.g. text messaging, group chat) are two of the commonly used methods of communication in daily professional and personal lives. The conceptual data model used in most email systems is derived from a simple filing cabinet metaphor. Messages are ‘stored’ in a hierarchy of folders. Those folders can have distinct properties (e.g. name of the folder, size of the folder, who is allowed to manipulate that folder, and in what way) and are themselves ‘stored’ in a mailbox (a filing cabinet). Moreover, exchanged messages may also include a trail of past related messages, related documents (e.g. attachments), links to reference documents or network locations, and similar items.
Real time communications are modeled after their namesake. They typically include exchanges of brief textual (and in some cases graphical) messages transferred between participants in a rapid fashion. Real time exchanges like instant messages or group chats may also include related documents, images, links, etc., but those are commonly more limited than a typical email exchange.
Users in conventional communication systems may respond to an email with a text message or vice versa. However, the systems are not equipped to provide a seamless transition between the two forms of communication, and a significant amount of information may be lost during the transition by the user unless the user manually performs a number of tasks to provide integration between the two communications.